Page 56 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 3-4: Convention on the Rights of the Child: Educational Opportunities and Social Justice, eds. Zdenko Kodelja and Urška Štremfel
P. 56
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 3–4
in mind that adults are those who decide what is a low and what is a high
risk, the issue of competence is inseparable from the issue of adults’ pow-
er and control over children. If it is a decision that will significantly in-
fluence other people (including the child as a future adult), the adult will
more strongly influence and control the decision process and the child
will be assessed as less competent.
There are two ways adults can induce the child’s competence for de-
cision-making: first, to teach children how to act, how to cope with envi-
ronmental problems (how to participate actively); children could there-
by become capable of doing some things while their decision competence
grows; second, adults should control the environment in such a way that
the decisions are less risky and reversible (Моrtier, 1998). This would en-
tail adults setting boundaries wide enough so that beyond them are only
those behaviours/situations that directly jeopardise the physical and psy-
chic integrity of the child, and within the boundaries the child can make
their own free choices.
Participation is not always in the best interest of children;
protection must come before participation
This argument justifies a more subtle form of discrimination, expressed as
the protection of children and attempting to ensure their best interests;
it rests on the belief that agency and dependency are opposite constructs.
This ‘either/or’ thinking was challenged by Priscilla Alderson (2001) who
sees the relationship between adults and children as ‘both/and’: both
agency and dependency are important components of the relationship.
Saying that children have agency does not imply they are completely au-
tonomous in the decision-making process (and that adults do not have the
right to say or do anything) or that protection and care are not important
elements of the adult–child relationship.
If we perceive protection as a unique and key component of the
adult–child relationship, we miss the chance to include children in the
decision-making process about their best interest when it comes to secur-
ing and protecting their rights. Children’s participation in the process of
planning their safety and protecting their rights helps adults to de-cen-
tre and understand the children’s priorities in different areas, and to ac-
quire a more profound insight into the problems the children are coping
with. All of this increases the chances that the decisions made are tru-
ly in the best interest of children. There are many examples of participa-
tory projects and studies in which children actively participated (as ex-
perts in their own experience) in the process of protecting and realising
their rights. For example, in studies on the problems of street children
54
in mind that adults are those who decide what is a low and what is a high
risk, the issue of competence is inseparable from the issue of adults’ pow-
er and control over children. If it is a decision that will significantly in-
fluence other people (including the child as a future adult), the adult will
more strongly influence and control the decision process and the child
will be assessed as less competent.
There are two ways adults can induce the child’s competence for de-
cision-making: first, to teach children how to act, how to cope with envi-
ronmental problems (how to participate actively); children could there-
by become capable of doing some things while their decision competence
grows; second, adults should control the environment in such a way that
the decisions are less risky and reversible (Моrtier, 1998). This would en-
tail adults setting boundaries wide enough so that beyond them are only
those behaviours/situations that directly jeopardise the physical and psy-
chic integrity of the child, and within the boundaries the child can make
their own free choices.
Participation is not always in the best interest of children;
protection must come before participation
This argument justifies a more subtle form of discrimination, expressed as
the protection of children and attempting to ensure their best interests;
it rests on the belief that agency and dependency are opposite constructs.
This ‘either/or’ thinking was challenged by Priscilla Alderson (2001) who
sees the relationship between adults and children as ‘both/and’: both
agency and dependency are important components of the relationship.
Saying that children have agency does not imply they are completely au-
tonomous in the decision-making process (and that adults do not have the
right to say or do anything) or that protection and care are not important
elements of the adult–child relationship.
If we perceive protection as a unique and key component of the
adult–child relationship, we miss the chance to include children in the
decision-making process about their best interest when it comes to secur-
ing and protecting their rights. Children’s participation in the process of
planning their safety and protecting their rights helps adults to de-cen-
tre and understand the children’s priorities in different areas, and to ac-
quire a more profound insight into the problems the children are coping
with. All of this increases the chances that the decisions made are tru-
ly in the best interest of children. There are many examples of participa-
tory projects and studies in which children actively participated (as ex-
perts in their own experience) in the process of protecting and realising
their rights. For example, in studies on the problems of street children
54
